To fight depression during her 20s, celebrity trainer Jackie Warner turned to diet and exercise. In this exclusive Lifescript interview, Warner reveals how she dealt with clinical depression and her Rx for continuing health...

Whether she’s appearing on TV shows such as “Work Out” and “Thintervention” or helping star clients reach their fitness goals, celebrity trainer Jackie Warner personifies what it means to be happy, healthy and strong.

Yet in her 20s, Warner’s contagious smile masked a depression that set in after she left her small town in Ohio for Los Angeles.

The svelte Warner gained 50 pounds, reaching an all-time high of 169 pounds on her 5-foot-8-inch frame. After confiding in her doctor about fatigue, her inability to sleep and lingering sadness, Warner was diagnosed with clinical depression.

She decided that her plan to fight depression should include changing her diet and exercising more. By eating more healthfully, working out and walking everywhere, she lost 40 pounds in four months.

In this Lifescript exclusive, the acclaimed fitness guru reveals how she shed her excess weight and dealt with her depression.

What were the issues that led to your clinical depression diagnosis?By my early 20s, I was feeling depressed, stressed and not sleeping. I was miserable and felt so out of control. I tried covering up with baggy clothes, but I still felt insecure.

How did you learn you were suffering from clinical depression?I told my doctor about my symptoms and was diagnosed with clinical depression.

[Then] I wanted to see if I could change how I felt – and looked – through diet and exercise.

How did your diet affect your mood?Growing up in Ohio, I ate a lot of fast food and sugar. I was hooked on candy, Pop-Tarts, sugary cereal and sodas.

[When] trying to find my own cure for being tired and miserable, I learned that junk food was affecting my moods and leaving me too lethargic to exercise.

After failing at every complicated diet and exercise regimen out there, I adopted a few common-sense rules that worked [for me], and I now share them with my clients.

What rules did you adopt to fight depression with food?The first is never to skip meals. When I work with overweight clients, I notice they all skip meals. It’s much better to eat small meals throughout the day.

I also encourage my clients to read labels and be aware of how much sugar is in the foods they’re eating – not just candy but products including ketchup and baked beans.

Don’t assume that because something is labeled low-fat that it’s also low in sugar. A good rule is to avoid anything containing more than 9 grams of sugar [per serving].

How does sugar affect mood?Besides causing obesity, several studies have shown a link between clinical depression and an increased sugar intake.

[Editor’s note: People who drank more than four sweetened soft drinks per day had a 22% higher risk of depression 10 years later, according to a January 2013 National Institutes of Health study.]

Sugar is fine in moderation, but indulging in sugar-laden foods sets people up for getting fat and not feeling well. When you’re addicted to sugar, you need more sugar to feel better, and it’s a vicious cycle.

Blood sugar spikes, followed by blood sugar drops, lead to fatigue, irritability, sugar cravings, weight gain and eventually health problems like pre-diabetes or heart disease.

Rather than buying lots of sugar-filled products, stock up on apples, berries and some citrus fruits [such as grapefruit]. They’re lower in sugar and calories, and provide vitamins you won’t find in candy and sodas.

As you eliminated junk foods, what did you replace them with?When I reduced my cravings for sweet and fatty foods, I started eating [these] nutrient-rich foods:

3-4 servings of vegetables each day

2 servings of whole fruit

2-3 servings of free-range protein or wild-caught fish

2 servings of healthy dietary fat, such as flaxseed, avocado or nut butters

These foods help to balance hormones and burn fat.

After making these modifications to fight depression, what changes did you see?I had no idea that the junk food I was turning to as a self-soothing mechanism was actually keeping me sick. Now that I’m eating cleaner, I feel less fatigued, happier and I sleep better.

Today, what happens if you’re feeling down?My lifestyle has been so consistent with eating healthy and exercising regularly that I’m able to rebound and cope better when I have a setback.

My self-esteem is higher and I no longer reach for food as a way to comfort myself if I have a bad day.

What strategies to fight depression do you recommend for emotional eaters?I’ve learned the desire to graze is often fueled by dehydration. Rather than grabbing candy, drink a glass of ice-cold water with lemon instead, and see if that hunger pang goes away.

Keeping a food journal is also a great way to address emotional eating. It’s a tool to help people lose weight, and offers an understanding of why and when you overeat. It forces you to account for what you’re putting in your body.

If my clients are experiencing symptoms of depression, I suggest they go on a two-week detox to eliminate sugar, caffeine, highly processed foods, fatty meats and alcohol, and replace them with healthy foods that can correct body chemistry, satisfy hunger and reduce cravings.

Is it also important to change your mind-set to fight depression?To make positive changes, you have to think differently and decide that your appearance, health and fitness are as important as everything else in your life.

For moms, making better choices and leading a healthy lifestyle also means they’re setting a positive example for their children and teaching them important lessons about healthy eating and exercise.

In your book, This Is Why You’re Fat (and How to Get Thin Forever), you talk about why diets don’t work. Why is this?Most people have never been able to stick with a diet for more than a few months, [so they] never reach their goals.

The problem is that the weight almost always comes back, and you fall into your old patterns of eating.

When I work with clients, I teach them strategies they can incorporate into their lifestyle to keep the weight off. Rather than focusing on the foods they’ll be giving up, I encourage them to add natural fat-burning foods [such as eggs, cottage cheese, avocado and oatmeal] to their meals.

If they eat healthy foods five days a week, they can enjoy two treat meals on weekends. After five days of clean eating, most people find they don’t have the same desire for junk food, and this is one of the secrets of long-term weight loss: tricking the brain to not feel deprived.

How does exercise help fight depression?[The feel-good brain chemicals] serotonin, dopamine and epinephrine are released into the brain through intense bursts of exercise.

Get 30 minutes a day of exercise – even if you break it up into three 10-minute intervals.

What advice do you have for people who may be feeling so stressed or depressed that making changes seems overwhelming?Start small – try moving or doing some exercise every day for 10-20 minutes. If you don’t want to leave your house, work out with [home equipment] or an exercise DVD.

Also, start incorporating “superfoods” into your diet daily – half a grapefruit a day or any kind of fish, especially salmon, which is a good source of vitamin D; that may increase levels of serotonin.

Oatmeal is also a great choice since it contains soluble fiber and [slows the rate of] absorption of sugar into the blood.

It’s never too late to reinvent yourself. My mom was 50 when she decided to take control of her life because of some health issues. She started working out with a personal trainer and now really enjoys going to the gym. She had joint problems before she started exercising, and those have disappeared.

She has better self-esteem, is happier and has become a role model to the rest of my family, who have all made healthy changes in their lives because of her.

Could You Be Depressed?Like Picasso, everyone goes through a "blue period" from time to time. But if you're depressed, you are experiencing more than just the occasional bad mood or terrible day. Depression affects 20 million people in any given year and is a serious enough disorder to compromise one's ability to function normally day to day. Find out if you're just blue or if you might be clinically depressed.

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